Youngest woman elected to House gets sworn in as Petersburg lawmaker

Wednesday

Jan 13, 2016 at 5:36 PMFeb 18, 2016 at 12:12 PM

At 29-years-old, Del. Lashrecse Aird was the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Delegates

Alex Trihias Staff Writer @AlexTrihias_PI

PETERSBURG — At 29-years-old, Del. Lashrecse Aird was the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Delegates when she was sworn in during the opening day of the 2016 session of the Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday.

“I called when I first decided to run, a little presumptuous, and I just said ‘people have been asking me, am I the youngest delegate to ever run’ and there are several men that were very young when they ran, but what they did was they went back through all their digitized records as far as they could to search and then the clerk’s office called me and said ‘you will be the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Delegates’ so it’s exciting,” Aird said.

Aird, a Democrat, now represents the 63rd district after filling the seat that newly elected Senator Rosalyn Dance left vacant. From 2007 to 2012, Aird served as Dance’s legislative aide in the House of Delegates. Aird said that one of the most important things she learned during her time as an aid was about respecting people and relationship building.

“At the end of the day, regardless of political party, people are people first,” said Aird. “If you can reach the core of them on those things that are important to you and find a middle ground to try and get the results for what your constituents need the most, then that’s how you’ll be successful. Political posturing only plays to a certain extent, but to really, especially in this particular party where democrats are the minority, you have to be able to build relationships with everyone to get what their constituents need.”

Her main priorities include jobs, education and healthcare, which were priorities that many people brought to her during her time running for office.

“In this session, I’m carrying a very light load, just four or five bills, that are locality bill requests,” said Aird. “As a lawmaker overall, you will always see me supporting those initiatives and those policy issues that reference those three priorities: jobs, education, and healthcare. I think that if I can execute on those priorities, that will definitely improve the quality of life for the citizens, the families and kids, not just for Petersburg but the entire district.”

Aird was born in Buffalo, New York, which she said has similar demographics to Petersburg. Her father was in the Navy which caused them to relocate to Norfolk, Virginia, which also has a mixed demographic and various economic ranges.

“I experienced adversity really early on in my life,” Aird said. “All of those experiences, I carry those with me. When I look around my district, I feel like I know exactly what some of the most economically distressed families are going through because I lived through that.”

Aird said that taking over Dance’s seat in the House has been interesting due to the amount of respect Dance has received from numerous people because of sacrifices she had made.

“It’s extremely important to me to make sure they continue to have that same representation and to also make sure that people know me for who I am because although I did get my foundation there, it’s going to be me held responsible for what happens from this point on,” said Aird. “It’s huge shoes to fill, but I look forward to trying to live up to that and to giving it my absolute all.”

After her swearing in, Aird said the actualization of serving in the same body as many forefounders and being in Jefferson’s capital was a privilege and honor. She said she looks forward to doing the best she can.

• Alex Trihias can be reached at 804-722-5172 or atrihias@progress-index.com

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